Sport

Cricket: How David Allen got Mike Procter to Gloucestershire

First published
in Sport
by Rob Iles, Sports editor covering the Thornbury, Dursley and Yate areas

GLOUCESTERSHIRE legend Mike Procter has revealed that he may never have played for the club if it was not for David Allen.

Procter was team-mates at Gloucestershire with Allen, who passed away last month, and admits he owed a lot to the former Thornbury chairman and president for putting the wheels in motion for his move to the club in 1965.

“David Allen was actually the instigator in getting me to Gloucestershire,” Procter told the Gazette.

“When he was on tour with England in 1964-65 he asked the South Africa captain at the time, a guy called Jackie McGlew, if he could recommend a few players to come to Gloucestershire and he recommended myself to David Allen.

“So I’ve got very fond memories of David Allen because he got me here.

“I have fond memories playing a football match pre-season with David.

“My football skills are actually nil so the only way I could stop him from going past me was to run at him with my shoulder. He wasn’t very impressed about that but it was a bit of a laugh.”